1968 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible L89

I assembled the basic engine and went to paint it.  The Model Master Acrylic Enamel paint I had picked up was old and needed to be thinned.  I thinned the paint with Acryl Thinner and now I will strip the paint from the engine and repaint it.  When I wire an engine, I usually drill out the distributor and add my wires.  This distributor has a mounting pin just under the distributor capand I drilled it out, added a short piece of 1/8th inch styrene tube and then I glued in the pin.  Now I can add my wires.

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I'm a huge C3 fan so I'll be watching. BRG is a very nice color. I don't recall seeing any US cars painted like that so it will be interesting. Not sure I've ever seen a dark green C3 either. This is gonna be cool.

BK

Thanks Brandon!  British Racing Green or British Green Poly was a color that was used on the '68 Corvette.  We don't see any out in public, but they are out there!  Google Images has plenty of them.  

Great choice for a build!  I've always loved this body style of Corvette.  I'll follow this build closely.

TJS

Thanks Tom!

I left the engine covered in Easy-Off Oven Cleaner for a couple of days since I had to do other things.  In other words, life got in the way.  I washed the engine this morning and I got 99% of the paint off and I have been scraping any other loose particules off.  Now to repaint the engine after I drill for plug wires.

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The 427 CI engine is wired and assembled.  I ran some wires through the ignition shield and ran them to the cylinder heads.  All that work done on the distributor and I didn't use it, but I did add a piece of 1/16 inch styrene rod to under the distributor shield to the back of the intake manifold.  That sparked the question, is the shield a part of the 1:1 air cleaner or is it a separate item?  The air cleaner I found was on the part sprue, but not listed in the instructions.  This air cleaner is for a "lesser" 427 engine which I have created.  

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I have never liked the alternator/generator hanging in the air and I tried to make a bracket for that.  It's not bad and probably a bit larger than it should be, but I did make a bracket for the alternator.  Now to clean it up, finalize the shape and paint it!

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Earlier this week I took a chance and painted the hardtop roof and it didn't come out too badly.  I painted the body this afternoon and I am not too happy as the body door lines and vent lines showed through the paint.  Maybe another coat or two after this coat has had a chance to dry.  I painted the underside of the hood and when this has had chance to dry, I'll paint the top of the hood. 

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If I remeber correctly the heat sheild is seperate from the aircleaner. Looking good.

Thanks lurch!  It appears to be a separate item.

I have put the 'Vette body, hood and roof into a small tub with Easy-Off Oven Cleaner to strip the paint.  The roof was ok, but the body and hood had way too many flaws even to sand out.  I'm off to find a new can of dark green metallic LACQUER paint today.  No enamel paint!  

While the '68 Vette is taking a bath in Easy-Off, I decided on assembling the chassis.  I replaced the kit tires with a set of white letter tires from AMT.  The engine is wired with a triangular air cleaner over the single 4-barrel carburator.  I replaced the kit front springs with a set I had found in my parts box and I paint them blue.  I glue the front wheels on so the model wouldn't roll off the table.

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Mr. Mike, good luck with the paint on your Vette.  I do like that color that you've selected.  The chassis work is moviing along & looking very good too.

TJS

Lookin' good on this ol' Vette Mike. These are my favorite of all the Vette families.

Thanks Tom and Joe!  I went out today and I found another can of Dupli-Color Forest Green Pearl and that is the color I plan on using.  A nice dark green paint!

After sitting for a couple of days in Easy-Off Oven Cleaner, I washed the Corvette body, hood and roof and the old paint just came off with some Dawn Dish Detergent and a scrub brush.  Now to pick and sand to remove any unwanted paint and then a new coat of primer.

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I added primer to my Corvette L89 this afternoon.  Dupi-Color Scratch Filler & Primer.

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I don't like the instructions on this model!  Parts are included, but there is no mention of that part being used.  There is a fan shroud on the parts tree, but no where in the instructions is it called for.  I included it on my Corvette!  I have started sanding the primer coat on the 'Vette hood and in some spots, The primer ran so I made sure it was flush before I add another coat, a little more sanding and paint.

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I have finished the interior of my '68 Corvette.  Since this is a L89 car and not an L88, I tried to create a radio in place of the block off plate that L88s have since they have no radios.

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Doncha just hate it when the instructions are off like that? I didn't know that L88's had no radio. Progress is looking good Mike.

Thanks Joe!  The L88's did not have a radio due to the interference caused by the high energy ignition of a race engine.  L89's could be ordered with a radio and would have been received with the ignition shield that goes around the distributor.  L88's are a race engine and the L89's are almost a race engine, just a little subdued...just a LITTLE!

I painted the Corvette this afternoon with Dupli-Color Forest Green Pearl over Dupli-Color Scratch Filler & Primer.  Came out rather well.  Just a little blushing on the roof which will polish out.  A good paint job!  Now to let this dry for a couple of days and then polishing and clearcoat.

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I started looking at the instructions again and then I Googled Corvette engine compartments and then I Googled expansion tanks and windshield washer tanks.  With the help of my Revell '69 Corvette Yenko instructions, I figured the location of the expansion tank and the washer bottle and I installed them on the passenger side inner fender of my '68 Corvette.  The expansion tank is not listed in the '68 Corvette instructions and the windshield washer bottle is not listed on the '69 Corvette Yenko instructions.  This is a case of both maybe correct, but both are wrong for their exclusions. 

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I started polishing the Forest Green Pearl paint this morning.  So far, I have the roof and the hood polished and the body is next.  I burnt through in a couple of places on the hood and I tried to touch up those spots, but they stand out like a sore thumb!  After repeated polishings, they still stand out, so the alternative is to repaint the hood again.

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Been there and done that MANY times in regards to burning through paint jobs. I burnt through my 56 Demon II hood that was black AND I had airbrushed flames on. I stripped and repainted that hood three frickin' times.....flames and all. Looking forward to the recovery efforts Mike. That is a good color though.

Very nice work Mike. Looking forward to the finished build.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Thanks Joe and Jim!  I think that another quick spritz or two with the spray can should do the trick.  

Paint looks really good. And I too have been there, done that on the burn through. It's all part of what we do. Great work.

BK

Thanks BrandonK!  It just seems like that everytime I try to do a touchup on a burn-through, it looks terrible and I end up repainting the entire thing!

I too found this to be a frustrating excercise and would welcome a tutorial on this exact subject.   I love the results but any thing with a sharp edge poses this problem.